Negotiating conflict and negativity in an online\ud Community for recovering heart pateints

When an online community has been set up to support members living\ud with heart disease, it has a responsibility to provide a safe environment in terms of\ud emotional security and accurate health information. Unfortunately, in online\ud communities as in communities generally, relationships developed among\ud members can sometimes go awry. Situations can arise where private exchanges\ud between members exacerbate public discord and conflict erupts: occasionally with\ud both sides having legitimate reason to feel aggrieved. At this point, a usually selfregulating community can polarise and request the moderator's intervention. What\ud happens when the moderator is perceived to be doing nothing about the situation\ud and members of the community take matters into their own hands? This paper\ud discusses the implications and challenges of conflict in a therapeutic community.\ud It acknowledges that sometimes the situation can be too complex for simple\ud resolution and that in such circumstances, one or both of the conflicted parties\ud may have to withdraw from the site for a period of time

A glimpse into nursing discursive behaviour in interprofessional online learning

Background: The importance of interprofessional learning to provide quality patient care has resulted in the increasing use of asynchronous computer mediated conferencing in healthcare programmes within universities. The asynchronicity based on typed-written discussions in a virtual learning environment which provided flexibility in learning was used to increase opportunities for nurses and other allied healthcare professionals to participate in interprofessional learning in higher education. However, successful online learning relies on discursive practices in the virtual learning environment, embedded within discursive exchanges in practice are power relations in nursing language use; which had a negative impact on interprofessional learning and working relationships amongst nurses, between nurses and other allied healthcare professionals. This paper presents an analysis of the discursive practices of registered nurses in interprofessional learning based on asynchronous computer mediated conferencing. It aimed to ascertain if power relations were implicit in nursing language. Methods: Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis was used to analyse eight hundred and ninety typewritten online messages created in a 100% text-based online learning module at Master’s level in a University in North England between September 2004 and September 2009. Although the messages were created by 9 registered nurses and 4 other allied healthcare professionals undertaking interprofessional learning to learn about the issues surrounding e-learning in healthcare settings, this paper is part of a larger study focused on the messages by the nurses. Results: Nurses’ messages tended to appear as the first few responses in the discussion threads and their language was formal and objectifying. The genres resembled those found either in written assignment within higher education or in nursing documentation within practice. The virtual learning environment was an alternative social space for clinical practice where dominance of nurses was created, maintained and reinforced. Conclusions: Existing literature highlighted the incidents of problematic issues of interprofessional learning. In contrast, this paper explains the way nurses, through discursive practices, construct themselves in relation to their nursing and allied healthcare colleagues. Nurses need to be aware of the power-relations embedded in their language use and future research could usefully focus on the discursive aspect of interprofessional learning

Recognizing aboriginal oral tradition through blended learning: a success story

The Aboriginal Health and Community Administration Program (AHCAP) is a certificate program developed through the partnership of the Institute for Aboriginal Health and Continuing Studies at the University of British Columbia. This paper examines factors in the program’s blended design and development which have contributed to the exceptionally high completion rate and the strongly positive responses and outcomes for widely diverse learner cohorts. Factors which appear to contribute to the program success include: 1) a holistic approach compatible with traditional Aboriginal oral traditions of teaching and learning; 2) a university partnership that taps into unique networks and capacities; 3) incorporating the 4 R’s of Aboriginal education: relevance, reciprocity, respect and responsibility generated throughout the learning and teaching, both online and face-to-face; and 4) making the program accessible to geographically and technologically diverse communities of learners.\u

Understanding patient choices for attending sexually transmitted infection testing services: a qualitative study

Objectives: To establish which aspects of sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing services are important to STI testing service users. Methods: 10 focus groups consisting of previous or existing users of STI testing services were conducted in community settings in the south east of England. Groups were quota sampled based on age, gender and sexual orientation. Data were analysed using Framework Analysis. Results: 65 respondents (58% men) participated. Perceived expertise of staff was the key reason for attendance at genitourinary medicine services rather than general practice. Although some respondents voiced a willingness to test for STIs within general practice, the apparent limited range of tests available in general practice and the perceived lack of expertise around sexual health appeared to discourage attendance at general practice. The decision of where to test for STIs was also influenced by past experience of testing, existing relationships with general practice, method of receiving test results and whether the patient had other medical conditions such as HIV. Conclusions: No one type of STI testing service is suitable for all patients. This is recognised by policymakers, and it now requires commissioners and providers to make services outside of genitourinary medicine clinics more acceptable and attractive to patients, in particular to address the perceived lack of expertise and limited range of STIs tests available at alternative testing sites

Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies

A systematic search of the research literature from 1996 through July 2008 identified more than a thousand empirical studies of online learning. Analysts screened these studies to find those that (a) contrasted an online to a face-to-face condition, (b) measured student learning outcomes, (c) used a rigorous research design, and (d) provided adequate information to calculate an effect size. As a result of this screening, 51 independent effects were identified that could be subjected to meta-analysis. The meta-analysis found that, on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction. The difference between student outcomes for online and face-to-face classes—measured as the difference between treatment and control means, divided by the pooled standard deviation—was larger in those studies contrasting conditions that blended elements of online and face-to-face instruction with conditions taught entirely face-to-face. Analysts noted that these blended conditions often included additional learning time and instructional elements not received by students in control conditions. This finding suggests that the positive effects associated with blended learning should not be attributed to the media, per se. An unexpected finding was the small number of rigorous published studies contrasting online and face-to-face learning conditions for K–12 students. In light of this small corpus, caution is required in generalizing to the K–12 population because the results are derived for the most part from studies in other settings (e.g., medical training, higher education)

Group Leadership in Online Collaborative Learning

The innovations in computer and communications technologies combined with on-going needs to deliver educational programs to students regardless of their physical locations, have lead to the innovation of distance education programs and technologies. To keep up with recent developments in both areas of technologies and techniques related to distance education programs, educators, administrators, and researchers are in constant needs of learning about issues, solutions, and challenges of these technologies. The Encyclopedia of Distance Learning offers the most comprehensive coverage of the issues, concepts, trends, and technologies of distance learning. With more than 2,000 terms and definitions and over 6,000 additional references, this authoritative 4-volume encyclopedia is considered the foremost reference source for the latest understanding, discoveries, and research in the field of distance learning

On The Role Of Normative Influences In Commercial Virtual Communities

The potential to reconcile economic benefits to the firm with the social needs of customers has made commercial virtual communities a popular tool for companies to support their core products/service with a value-added service option. An important key to the success of such a virtual community is the behavior of its members. In this paper, we develop a framework of pro-social behavior (i.e., community citizenship behavior and contribution intentions) for understanding and explaining the motivation of virtual community members to actively participate in and care for the community. We show that the main determinants of pro-social behavior are the social norm of reciprocity and the personal norm of obligation. Reciprocity, in turn, is impacted by the value of the information and the socio-emotional support exchanged by the virtual community members.marketing ;

Barriers, control and identity in health information seeking among African American women

Qualitative research methods were used to examine the role of racial, cultural, and socio-economic group (i.e., communal) identities on perceptions of barriers and control related to traditional and internet resources for seeking health information. Eighteen lower income, African American women participated in training workshops on using the internet for health, followed by two focus groups. Transcripts were analyzed using standardized coding methods. Results demonstrated that participants perceived the internet as a tool for seeking health information, which they believed would empower them within formal healthcare settings. Participants invoked racial, cultural, and socio-economic identities when discussing barriers to seeking health information within healthcare systems and the internet. The findings indicate that the internet may be a valuable tool for accessing health information among lower income African American women if barriers are reduced. Recommendations are made that may assist health providers in improving health information seeking outcomes of African American women